100th Armistice Day in Paris · 9:29pm Nov 11th, 2018
The majority of world leaders showed up today in Paris, at the eleventh hour of the day by Paris time, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the signature of the Armistice which officially ended the Great War of 1914-1918, the biggest punch-up of nationalist interests the world had seen – until a repeat performance twenty years later where, admittedly, the "nationalist" aspect was far more pronounced on one particular side this time.
Majority of leaders, I say, with the notable exception of Britain's Prime Minister, too bogged down in the on-going, gruelling process of how to get Britain out of involvement in the European affairs which, half-and-century and more ago, Britain initially intervened in to safeguard its own interests and, during the second round, to stand against a force of nationalism taken too far.
The "eleventh hour" could also be the term used for the time chosen by the POTUS to show up, having demonstrated yesterday how, despite what he may claim, he has little if any respect for war veterans, cancelling a planned trip to the cemetery of Bois Belleau – a cemetery for American soldiers who fell during the Great War, no less – because of rain. Men who died facing a deluge of bullets, shells and trauma, not given the proper honour by their country's leader a century leader, for fear of getting his famously dodgy-looking hair wet. Or for fear it'd slip off, maybe?
Admittedly, the last world leader to arrive, right after the POTUS, was the President of Russia. And, once the ceremony was done, while the POTUS was hogging the attention with his two black cars - one the genuine article, one a decoy - the President of Russia vanished out of sight, unnoticed, under the cover of the POTUS's antics. There's a metaphor in there for their entire relationship.
And with his awkward walk, France's President does look a lot like a schoolboy who's been told what to do by his old theatre teacher, doesn't he?
But at the end of the day, the sight of students from the Lycée Seine-Saint-Denis, a school in one of the "troubled" areas of Paris, presenting themselves before the Arc de Triomphe to read from the letters of different soldiers who fought and endured during the Great War, is powerful, heartwarming enough of an image.
While permanent peace may never be possible, our moments of peace are something to hold onto.
Again trump has been a disgrace. This trip shouldn’t have been too hard. Show up and pay his respects and try and improve the United States retaliations with Europe. Instead he didn’t go to the cemetery and made other officials go. He tweeted about the California fires at home and threatened to cut off federal aid and so forth. He proved himself again to be a oblivious idiot. The only thing i can look forward with his administration is that with the recent midterm elections the democrats control congress and will probably strangle trumps agenda in its crib.